Wet snow problems are on the way out and whatever dry new snow accumulates will be the building blocks for Friday's hazard. Unless you are headed to Tetrahedron, probably not much.
Light new snow amounts and elevated winds should form small wind slabs to manage on Friday. This problem will be greatest in the alpine and could verge on a more widespread, more triggerable storm slab in Tetrahedon Park.
Observations have been very limited, however we are confident that a natural avalanche cycle occurred during recent periods of heavy rain.
Looking forward, strong surface crusts should soon cap the snowpack in most areas.
Limited high alpine locations in the region may have up to 20 cm of wind-redistributed new snow sitting on a new crust by the end of day Thursday. Up to 30 cm might be found in the Tetrahedron area.
Elsewhere, the snowpack has been heavily saturated by recent rainfall.
Below treeline coverage in many areas has returned to below threshold depth for avalanches.
Thursday night
Cloudy with 10 to 15 mm of rain or wet snow in high alpine. Southeast alpine winds 30 to 40 km/h.
Friday
Cloudy with wet flurries bringing 10-20 cm of new snow, greatest in the alpine, rain below about 1100 m. Southeast alpine winds 20 to 30 km/h. Treeline temperature 0°C with freezing levels around 1400 m.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud. Variable or northeast alpine wind 5-15 km/h. Treeline temperature 0°C with freezing levels around 1300 m.
Sunday
Mainly sunny. Northeast alpine wind 15-30 km/h. Treeline temperature 0°C with freezing levels around 1300 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
